The time was three months, and it was the midsummer of 673 in the continental calendar.

The southeast of the empire entered a rare calm. The Lena people in the north have suffered a rare drought this year, and they cannot afford to go south to harass the empire. The Omanis to the south were interested in continuing northward, but the defense line of the southern peak fortress had already been repaired. After hesitating, it was decided to continue to restore the military strength damaged last year, and by the way, continue to provide food and grass for military resources.

The side of the Songjiang Army was also calm.

In the past three months, the two counties of Songjiang and Tiannan have been basically connected and completely integrated into Chen Wu's control. The construction of a winery in Kanggu in Gyeongho County and an official road in Cheonnam County are also in full swing. On the army side, the 13,000 men of the 2nd Division of the Songjiang Army have been fully formed. The first batch of crash course cadets have also graduated and rejoined the army, which has greatly enhanced the basic combat strength of the army.

In terms of weapons and armaments, with the third additional deal with the eldest prince and the commissioning of the Crooked Toushan Iron Mine in Shanxian County, the gap has also been greatly alleviated. A steady stream of high-quality iron ore flowed into Songjiang, and the craftsmen under the War Readiness Administration began to make more sophisticated weapons and armor day and night.

On the imperial side, it was not without concern about the steady development of the Matsue Army. But as long as there is no movement, they will not pay attention to this side for the time being, but take advantage of the rare calm in the southeast to seize all their efforts to quell the Wudou Midao rebellion in the southwest of the empire. Under such a strategy, the situation of Wudou Midao is very critical.

Since the empire turned to a strategic offensive, in just three months, the most elite 150,000 main forces of Wudou Midao have experienced two major defeats one after another, with more than 60,000 casualties!

If it weren't for the fact that these soldiers were all staunch Wudou Midao Dao people, they would have collapsed long ago after suffering so many losses. Rao is like this, after two big defeats, Wudou Midao can only be forced to give up the entire Longxi and half of Tianshui. Of the original four counties, only the most stable Baling County remained, as well as Xichuan and the other half of Tianshui County. The reduction of the control territory directly led to a significant reduction in the war potential of the Wudou Midao, bringing about a series of vicious circles.

The high-level of the Five Bucket Rice Dao, including the two Heavenly Masters and several Great Sacrifice Wines, had already lost some of their proportions.

The assassination presided over by Shijun Zhang Fa before, although it promoted the replacement of the Minister of War, even frightened Qianyuanji, and seemed to be seriously ill. But now it seems that the impact of this assassination is not as great as they thought, and it will take longer to ferment. It's just that, in the current situation, Wudou Midao can't last until that time.

Seeing that the frontal battlefield had been defeated and retreated, it was impossible to count on the internal strife in the empire, or to let the Songjiang army help share the pressure, and Shijun Zhang Fa could think of a way to save the defeat, but only the last one remained.

Introduce foreign enemies!

In all dynasties and dynasties, anyone who made such a move was scolded by the people of the country and remembered in the history books for thousands of years, and none of them could have a good end. But if you don't do this, the defeat of Wudou Midao is imminent.

As for continuing to drag on and wait for a turnaround, with the old spiciness of the Chengguo public army and the prestige in the army, Shijun Zhang Fa did not think that the other party would give him any chance.

As far as the previous discussion goes, the most likely foreign aid for Wudou Midao is the Northwest Tile Thorn Wanderers. Let them follow the route of the last invasion of Wuwei County, and Wudou Midao will answer here. But with this move, the empire has already taken precautions. The reason why Longxi was recovered first was to block the possibility of the Tile Spur cavalry driving straight in, so that they would at least have to go around in one more circle. In addition, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Empire has also sent envoys to both Tile and Tiele.

The Tiele Tribe, another major force in the Golmud steppe, was defeated in the previous war with the Watts, and the original fertile pastoral area was seized and moved to the bitter cold land further northwest. Everyone knows that although this tribe is no longer as good as it was back then, and on the surface, it is also respectful and willing to be a servant of the tile spur cavalry, but how can the hatred of being slaughtered by 100,000 soldiers and civilians in World War I be easily forgotten.

Even if this trip can't be said to move the Tielers, just leaking the news of the envoy to the Wattspurs is enough to make the Tilspurs suspicious. After all, the emaciated camel is bigger than the horse, and no matter how bad the Tiele people are, they can easily pull up tens of thousands of troops.

In addition to the forces in the steppe, the only Barents principality in the north of the empire that can be counted as some friendship is also willing to help make peace.

Diplomacy was unfavorable, and the Empire had also strengthened its defenses on the border of Wuwei County. In this case, it may not be possible to force the Tile Spur cavalry to send troops. After all, the cavalry of the Watts had also suffered heavy losses in the previous battle of the Northwest, and were now in the same situation as the Omanis, recuperating from their wounds.

Since this reinforcement could not be brought in, and the four countries of the Western Regions a little south were holding each other back, and their national strength was too weak to be of great use, Zhang Fa looked around, and there was only one country left that might have been wooed and had great ambitions for Qianyuan.

The Inca kingdom in the southwest!

The territory of this country is not small, at least half the size of the Qianyuan, but it is a pity that the strength is not proportional to the size and ambition of the country. In the history before Chen Wu crossed, he once provoked the Qianyuan Empire, but unfortunately the 100,000 army was lightly beaten back by two divisions of the empire. In the end, before Chen Wu crossed, he was easily wiped out by the army of the Sun Dynasty and crushed into ashes!

However, Zhang Fa doesn't know!

Or, because the Qianyuan Empire has always been strong, the Inca Kingdom only dared to make some small moves in the southwest at most, and did not dare to mess around. The armies of both sides have never fought, and naturally there is no way to know the true strength of the other side. At least on paper, the Inca kingdom was half the size of the empire, and the number of troops was about 350,000 as the Omanis after annexing Nam Thai and Hue.

In such a country, it is not a problem to mobilize a hundred thousand troops to attack the empire.

If you can get them in......

What Zhang Fa didn't know was that in the history of the game, the Inca Kingdom had already coveted the empire at this time. After receiving the secret letter sent by him to cross the Yak-Tibetan River from Xichuan County and cross the border, the emperor of the Inca Kingdom was overjoyed and hit it off with Zhang Fa's people.

Like the number of the first Inca armies to attack the empire in history, this time, the Inca kingdom still sent 100,000 troops. Even the general of the unification army has not changed, his name is Ari Savalli!

Not to mention the combat effectiveness of the Incas, it is also a fully armed regular army of 100,000. Even if it is only the level of the Empire's ordinary city defense battalion, it is enough to play a vital role in the current situation. In fact, after learning that the Inca king's ** team crossed the Yak Zang River and openly stepped into the territory of the empire, Cheng Guogong was furious and immediately adjusted the current army deployment.

On the one hand, taking advantage of the fact that the Inca army did not reach the front line, they stepped up their offensive to regain lost ground; On the other hand, we are also ready for strategic contraction and on-the-spot defense efforts.

History has been stirred up beyond recognition!

Receiving the information that the Inca Dynasty had invaded the empire in advance and colluded with Zhang Fa of Wudou Midao, Chen Wu couldn't help but have this feeling again.

After all, it is a real 100,000 people, and with the agreement reached, the relatively rich Incas will support the five buckets of rice with money, food, and military resources if necessary. With these factors in mind, it can be expected that the Empire's already good situation and its plan to quickly quell the Goto Mido rebellion went bankrupt.

This is absolutely bad news for the Imperial Hub.

But for Chen Wu, it is equivalent to another period of peaceful development. In fact, he was not so surprised that the Inca dynasty was involved at this time. Familiar with history, he knew very well that as the decline of the empire became more apparent, the situation would only get worse and worse.

So, how should you take advantage of this rare opportunity?

Due to the early involvement of the Inca Dynasty, the empire was involved in more energy in the southwest, and Chen Wu began to think about whether he was going to launch a strategy against Ninghai County in advance.

It looks like the Omanis are not going north this year. The time in the second half of the year was just enough for him to swallow Ninghai County in one go, and by the way, let the newly established Songjiang Second Division train its troops. If there were more than half of the county, and then the eastern outlet to the sea and the port of Quanzhou, Chen Wu would be able to do a lot more, and he would be a little more sure of dealing with the possible large-scale attack of the Omanis in the coming year.

As for the reason for meddling in Ninghai County, he had already obtained it in the previous layout.

After leaving Chen Wu, Zhang Shun and the third child really sent the family on the open sea to Dengzhou to "enjoy happiness". In return for their actions, Chen Wu immediately ordered the Military Intelligence Department to give them strong support. not only gave 200,000 gold coins in advance, but also moved 200 sets of scarce weapons and standard leather armor to Zhang Shun.

With such support, Zhang Shun disbanded the original Sea Dragon Regiment, re-established the Black Shark Regiment, and easily pulled up a group of more powerful combat forces than before. Although it has only been a few months, he has already done four or five major cases in Ninghai County one after another, creating a huge reputation.

If necessary, Chen Wu can make the Black Shark Group make a bigger disturbance at any time. He even sent soldiers from the Songjiang Army to attack Quanzhou Port in the name of the Black Shark Regiment.

Due to the early intervention of the Inca Dynasty, the empire has completely lost the ability to take care of Ninghai County. As long as the operation is done properly, Chen Wu can openly enter Ninghai in the name of helping to pacify the Haikou at the request of Ninghai County, and naturally he will not leave.

Even if the empire knew about it, it could only endure the current situation.

After all, the land of half a county, compared with the entire southwest of the empire, is more important than the other, and the center can still be clearly distinguished. What's more, the value and status of Ninghai County determined that the center didn't care about it, and some people had long decided that the Songjiang Army would do something to Ninghai County sooner or later.

With such a foundation, the empire should not have too strong a backlash against the Matsue army's moves.

But what Chen Wu didn't expect was that just when he put the strategy Ning Hai on the agenda, someone had already preemptively beaten his idea.